Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
  • G10L—SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
  • G10L19/00—Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
  • G10L—SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
  • G10L19/00—Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis
  • G10L19/008—Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
  • G10L—SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
  • G10L19/00—Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis
  • G10L19/002—Dynamic bit allocation

Definitions

• Apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation on the basis of the downmix signal representation apparatus for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal, methods, computer programs and bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal using a linear combination parameter
• Embodiments according to the invention are related to an apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation on the basis of a downmix signal representation and an object-related parametric information, which are included in a bitstream representation of an audio content, and in dependence on a user-specified rendering matrix.
• inventions are related to an apparatus for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal.
• inventions are related to a method for providing an upmix signal representation on the basis of a downmix signal representation and an object-related parametric information which are included in a bitstream representation of the audio content, and in dependence on a user-specified rendering matrix.
• inventions according to the invention are related to a method for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal.
• Other embodiments according to the invention are related to a computer program performing one of said methods.
• Another embodiment according to the invention is related to a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal.
• Fig. 8 shows a system overview of such a system (here: MPEG SAOC).
• the MPEG SAOC system 800 shown in Fig. 8 comprises an SAOC encoder 810 and an SAOC decoder 820.
• the SAOC encoder 810 receives a plurality of object signals Xi to XN, which may be represented, for example, as time-domain signals or as time-frequency- domain signals (for example, in the form of a set of transform coefficients of a Fourier- type transform, or in the form of QMF subband signals).
• the SAOC encoder 810 typically also receives downmix coefficients d ⁇ to d N , which are associated with the object signals Xj to XN.
• the SAOC encoder 810 is typically configured to obtain a channel of the downmix signal by combining the object signals x ⁇ to N in accordance with the associated downmix coefficients di to dN- Typically, there are less downmix channels than object signals xi to x N .
• the SAOC encoder 810 provides both the one or more downmix signals (designated as downmix channels) 812 and a side information 814.
• the side information 814 describes characteristics of the object signals Xj to X , in order to allow for a decoder-sided object-specific processing.
• the SAOC decoder 820 is configured to receive both the one or more downmix signals 812 and the side information 814. Also, the SAOC decoder 820 is typically configured to receive a user interaction information and/or a user control information 822, which describes a desired rendering setup. For example, the user interaction information/user control information 822 may describe a speaker setup and the desired spatial placement of the objects which provide the object signals xi to X .
• the SAOC decoder 820 is configured to provide, for example, a plurality of decoded upmix channel signals to - The upmix channel signals may for example be associated with individual speakers of a multi-speaker rendering arrangement.
• the SAOC decoder 820 may, for example, comprise an object separator 820a, which is configured to reconstruct, at least approximately, the object signals X! to x>j on the basis of the one or more downmix signals 812 and the side information 814, thereby obtaining reconstructed object signals 820b.
• the reconstructed object signals 820b may deviate somewhat from the original object signals xi to x», for example, because the side information 814 is not quite sufficient for a perfect reconstruction due to the bitrate constraints.
• the SAOC decoder 820 may further comprise a mixer 820c, which may be configured to receive the reconstructed object signals 820b and the user interaction information/user control information 822, and to provide, on the basis thereof, the upmix channel signals yi to $ ⁇
• the mixer 820 may be configured to use the user interaction information /user control information 822 to determine the contribution of the individual reconstructed object signals 820b to the upmix channel signals f ⁇ to YM-
• the user interaction information/user control information 822 may, for example, comprise rendering parameters (also designated as rendering coefficients), which determine the contribution of the individual reconstructed object signals 822 to the upmix channel signals yi to y -
• rendering parameters also designated as rendering coefficients
• Fig. 9a shows a block schematic diagram of a MPEG SAOC system 900 comprising an SAOC decoder 920.
• the SAOC decoder 920 comprises, as separate functional blocks, an object decoder 922 and a mixer/renderer 926.
• the object decoder 922 provides a plurality of reconstructed object signals 924 in dependence on the downmix signal representation (for example, in the form of one or more downmix signals represented in the time domain or in the time-frequency-domain) and object-related side information (for example, in the form of object meta data).
• the mixer/renderer 924 receives the reconstructed object signals 924 associated with a plurality of N objects and provides, on the basis thereof, one or more upmix channel signals 928.
• the extraction of the object signals 924 is performed separately from the mixing/rendering which allows for a separation of the object decoding functionality from the mixing/rendering functionality but brings along a relatively high computational complexity.
• the SAOC decoder 950 provides a plurality of upmix channel signals 958 in dependence on a downmix signal representation (for example, in the form of one or more downmix signals) and an object-related side information (for example, in the form of object meta data).
• the SAOC decoder 950 comprises a combined object decoder and mixer/renderer, which is configured to obtain the upmix channel signals 958 in a joint mixing process without a separation of the object decoding and the mixing/rendering, wherein the parameters for said joint upmix process are dependent both on the object-related side information and the rendering information.
• the joint upmix process depends also on the downmix information, which is considered to be part of the object-related side information.
• the provision of the upmix channel signals 928, 958 can be performed in a one step process or a two step process.
• the SAOC system 960 comprises an SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder 980, rather than an SAOC decoder.
• the SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder comprises a side information transcoder 982, which is configured to receive the object-related side information (for example, in the form of object meta data) and, optionally, information on the one or more downmix signals and the rendering information.
• the side information transcoder is also configured to provide an MPEG Surround side information (for example, in the form of an MPEG Surround bitstream) on the basis of a received data.
• the side information transcoder 982 is configured to transform an object-related (parametric) side information, which is relieved from the object encoder, into a channel-related (parametric) side information, taking into consideration the rendering information and, optionally, the information about the content of the one or more downmix signals.
• the SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder 980 may be configured to manipulate the one or more downmix signals, described, for example, by the downmix signal representation, to obtain a manipulated downmix signal representation 988.
• the downmix signal manipulator 986 may be omitted, such that the output downmix signal representation 988 of the SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder 980 is identical to the input downmix signal representation of the SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder.
• the downmix signal manipulator 986 may, for example, be used if the channel-related MPEG Surround side information 984 would not allow to provide a desired hearing impression on the basis of the input downmix signal representation of the SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder 980, which may be the case in some rendering constellations.
• the SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder 980 provides the downmix signal representation 988 and the MPEG Surround bitstream 984 such that a plurality of upmix channel signals, which represent the audio objects in accordance with the rendering information input to the SAOC to MPEG Surround transcoder 980 can be generated using an MPEG Surround decoder which receives the MPEG Surround bitstream 984 and the downmix signal representation 988.
• a SAOC decoder which provides upmix channel signals (for example, upmix channel signals 928, 958) in dependence on the downmix signal representation and the object-related parametric side information. Examples for this concept can be seen in Figs. 9a and 9b.
• the SAOC-encoded audio information may be transcoded to obtain a downmix signal representation (for example, a downmix signal representation 988) and a channel-related side information (for example, the channel-related MPEG Surround bitstream 984), which can be used by an MPEG Surround decoder to provide the desired upmix channel signals.
• N input audio object signals xj to X are downmixed as part of the SAOC encoder processing.
• the downmix coefficients are denoted by dj to d ⁇ .
• the SAOC encoder 810 extracts side information 814 describing the characteristics of the input audio objects.
• side information 814 describing the characteristics of the input audio objects.
• the relations of the object powers with respect to each other are the most basic form of such a side information.
• ⁇ Downmix signal (or signals) 812 and side information 814 are transmitted and/or stored.
• the downmix audio signal may be compressed using well-known perceptual audio coders such as MPEG-1 Layer II or III (also known as ".mp3"), MPEG Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), or any other audio coder.
• the SAOC decoder 820 conceptually tries to restore the original object signal ("object separation") using the transmitted side information 814 (and, naturally, the one or more downmix signals 812). These approximated object signals (also designated as reconstructed object signals 820b) are then mixed into a target scene represented by M audio output channels (which may, for example, be represented by the upmix channel signals yi to f ) using a rendering matrix. For a mono output, the rendering matrix coefficients are given by ri to ⁇
• GUI graphical user interface
• An embodiment according to the invention creates an apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation on the basis of a downmix signal representation and an object- related parametric information, which are included in a bitstream representation of an audio content, and in dependence on a user-specified rendering matrix.
• the apparatus comprises a distortion limiter configured to obtain a modified rendering matrix using a linear combination of a user-specified rendering matrix and a target rendering matrix in dependence on a linear combination parameter.
• the apparatus also comprises a signal processor configured to obtain the upmix signal representation on the basis of the downmix signal representation and the object-related parametric information using the modified rendering matrix.
• the apparatus is configured to evaluate a bitstream element representing the linear combination parameter in order to obtain the linear combination parameter.
• This embodiment according to the invention is based on the key idea that audible distortions of the upmix signal representation can be reduced or even avoided with low computational complexity by performing a linear combination of a user-specified rendering matrix and the target rendering matrix in dependence on a linear combination parameter, which is extracted from the bitstream representation of the audio content, because a linear combination can be performed efficiently, and because the execution of the demanding task of determining the linear combination parameter can be performed at the side of the audio signal encoder where there is typically more computational power available than at the side of the audio signal decoder (apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation).
• the above-discussed concept allows to obtain a modified rendering matrix, which results in reduced audible distortions even for an inappropriate choice of the user- specified rendering matrix, without adding any significant complexity to the apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation.
• the inventive concept brings along the advantage that an audio signal encoder can adjust the distortion limitation scheme, which is applied at the side of the audio signal decoder, in accordance with requirements specified at the encoder side by simply setting the linear combination parameter, which is included in the bitstream representation of the audio content.
• the audio signal encoder may gradually provide more or less freedom with respect to the choice of the rendering matrix to the user of the decoder (apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation) by appropriately choosing the linear combination parameter.
• This allows for the adaptation of the audio signal decoder to the user's expectations for a given service, because for some services a user may expect a maximum quality (which implies to reduce the user's possibility to arbitrarily adjust the rendering matrix), while for other services the user may typically expect a maximum degree of freedom (which implies to increase the impact of the user's specified rendering, matrix onto the result of the linear combination).
• the inventive concept combines high computational efficiency at the decoder side, which may be particularly important for portable audio decoders, with the possibility of a simple implementation, without bringing along the need to modify the signal processor, and also provides a high degree of control to an audio signal encoder, which may be important to fulfill the user's expectations for different types of audio services.
• the distortion limiter is configured to obtain the target rendering matrix such that the target rendering matrix is a distortion-free target rendering matrix.
• the target rendering matrix is a distortion-free target rendering matrix.
• the distortion limiter is configured to obtain the target rendering matrix such that the target rendering matrix is a downmix-similar target rendering matrix. It has been found that the usage of a downmix-similar target rendering matrix brings along a very low or even minimal degree of distortions. Also, such a downmix-similar target rendering matrix can be obtained with very low computational effort, because the downmix-similar target rendering matrix can be obtained by scaling the entries of the downmix matrix with a common scaling factor and adding some additional zero entries.
• the distortion limiter is configured to scale an extended downmix matrix using an energy normalization scalar, to obtain the target rendering matrix, wherein the extended downmix matrix is an extended version of the downmix matrix (a row of which downmix matrix describes contributions of a plurality of audio object signals to the one or more channels of the downmix signal representation), extended by rows of zero elements, such that a number of rows of the extended downmix matrix is identical to a rendering constellation described by the user-specified rendering matrix.
• the extended downmix matrix is obtained using a copying of values from the downmix matrix into the extended downmix matrix, an addition of zero matrix entries, and a scalar multiplication of all the matrix elements with the same energy normalization scalar. All of these operations can be performed very efficiently, such that the target rendering matrix can be obtained fast, even in a very simple audio decoder.
• the distortion limiter is configured to obtain the target rendering matrix such that the target rendering matrix is a best-effort target rendering matrix.
• the target rendering matrix is a best-effort target rendering matrix.
• the best-effort target rendering matrix takes into consideration the user's desired loudness for a plurality of speakers (or channels of the upmix signal representation). Accordingly, an improved hearing impression may result when using the best-effort target rendering matrix.
• the distortion limiter is configured to obtain the target rendering matrix such that the target rendering matrix depends on a downmix matrix and the user's specified rendering matrix. Accordingly, the target rendering matrix is relatively close to the user's expectations but still provides for a substantially distortion- free audio rendering.
• the linear combination parameter determines a trade-off between an approximation of the user's desired rendering and minimization of audible distortions, wherein the consideration of the user-specified rendering matrix for the computation of the target rendering matrix provides for a good satisfaction of the user's desires, even if the linear combination parameter indicates that the target rendering matrix should dominate the linear combination.
• the distortion limiter is configured to compute a matrix comprising channel-individual normalization values for a plurality of output audio channels of the apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation, such that an energy normalization value for a given output channel of the apparatus describes, at least approximately, a ratio between a sum of energy rendering values associated with the given output channel in the user-specified rendering matrix for a plurality of audio objects, and a sum of energy downmix values for the plurality of audio objects. Accordingly, a user's expectation with respect to the loudness of the different output channels of the apparatus can be met to some degree.
• the distortion limiter is configured to scale a set of downmix values using an associated channel-individual energy normalization value, to obtain a set of rendering values of the target rendering matrix associated with the given output channel. Accordingly, the relative contribution of a given audio object to an output channel of the apparatus is identical to the relative contribution of the given audio object to the downmix signal representation, which allows to substantially avoid audible distortions which would be caused by a modification of the relative contributions of the audio objects. Accordingly, each of the output channels of the apparatus is substantially undistorted.
• the user's expectation with respect to a loudness distribution over a plurality of speakers (or channels of the upmix signal representation) is taken into consideration, even though details where to place which audio object and/or how to change relative intensities of the audio objects with respect to each other are left unconsidered (at least to some degree) in order to avoid distortions which would possibly be caused by an excessively sharp spatial separation of the audio objects or an excessive modification of relative intensities of audio objects.
• the distortion limiter is configured to compute a matrix describing a channel-individual energy normalization for a plurality of output audio channels of the apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation in dependence on the user-specified rendering matrix and a downmix matrix.
• the distortion limiter is configured to apply the matrix describing the channel-individual energy normalization to obtain a set of rendering coefficients of the target rendering matrix associated with the given output channel of the apparatus as a linear combination of sets of downmix values (i.e., values describing a scaling applied to the audio signals of different audio objects to obtain a channel of the downmix signal) associated with different channels of the downmix signal representation.
• a target rendering matrix which is well-adapted to the desired user-specified rendering matrix, can be obtained even if the downmix signal representation comprises more than one audio channel, while still substantially avoiding distortions. It has been found that the formation of a linear combination of sets of downmix values results in a set of rendering coefficients which typically causes only small audible distortions. Nevertheless, it has been found that it is possible to approximate a user's expectation using such an approach for deriving the target rendering matrix.
• the apparatus is configured to read an index value representing the linear combination parameter from the bitstream representation of the audio content, and to map the index value onto the linear combination parameter using a parameter quantization table. It has been found that this is a particularly computationally efficient concept for deriving the linear combination parameter. It has also been found that this approach brings along a better trade-off between user's satisfaction and computational complexity when compared to other possible concepts in which complicated computations, rather than the evaluation of a 1 -dimensional mapping table, are performed.
• the quantization table describes a non-uniform quantization, wherein smaller values of the linear combination parameter, which describe a stronger contribution of the user- specified rendering matrix onto the modified rendering matrix, are quantized with comparatively high resolution and larger values of the linear combination parameter, which describe a smaller contribution of the user-specified rendering matrix onto the modified rendering matrix are quantized with comparatively lower resolution. It has been found that in many cases only extreme settings of the rendering matrix bring along significant audible distortions.
• the apparatus is configured to evaluate a bitstream element describing a distortion limitation mode.
• the distortion limiter is preferably configured to selectively obtain the target rendering matrix such that the target rendering matrix is a downmix-similar target rendering matrix or such that the target rendering matrix is a best-effort target rendering matrix. It has been found that such a switchable concept provides for an efficient possibility to obtain a good trade-off between a fulfillment of a user's rendering expectations and a minimization of the audible distortions for a large number of different audio pieces. This concept also allows for a good control of an audio signal encoder over the actual rendering at the decoder side. Consequently, the requirements of a large variety of different audio services can be fulfilled.
• Another embodiment according to the invention creates an apparatus for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal.
• the apparatus comprises a downmixer configured to provide a downmix signal on the basis of a plurality of audio object signals.
• the apparatus also comprises a side information provider configured to provide an object-related parametric side information, describing characteristics of the audio object signals and downmix parameters, and a linear combination parameter describing contributions of a user- specified rendering matrix and of a target rendering matrix to a modified rendering matrix.
• the apparatus for providing a bitstream also comprises a bitstream formatter configured to provide a bitstream comprising a representation of the downmix signal, the object-related parametric side information and the linear combination parameter.
• This apparatus for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal is well-suited for cooperation with the above-discussed apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation.
• the apparatus for providing a bitstream representing a multichannel audio signal allows for providing the linear combination parameter in dependence on its knowledge of the audio object signals.
• the audio encoder i.e., the apparatus for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal
• an audio decoder i.e., the above-discussed apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation
• the apparatus for providing the bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal has a very high level of control over the rendering result, which provides for an improved user satisfaction in the many different scenarios.
• Another embodiment according to the invention creates a method for providing an upmix signal representation on the basis of a downmix signal representation and an object-related parameter information, which are included in a bitstream representation of the audio content, in dependence on a user-specified rendering matrix. This method is based on the same key idea as the above-described apparatus.
• Another method according to the invention creates a method for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal. Said method is based on the same finding as the above-described apparatus.
• Another embodiment according to the invention creates a computer program for performing the above methods.
• bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal.
• the bitstream comprises a representation of a downmix signal combining audio signals of a plurality of audio objects in an object-related parametric side information describing characteristics of the audio objects.
• the bitstream also comprises a linear combination parameter describing contributions of a user-specified rendering matrix and of a target rendering matrix to a modified rendering matrix. Said bitstream allows for some degree of control over the decoder-sided rendering parameters from the side of the audio signal encoder.
• Fig. 1 a shows a block schematic diagram of an apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation, according to an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. lb shows a block schematic diagram of an apparatus for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal, according to an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 2 shows a block schematic diagram of an apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation, according to another embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 3a shows a schematic representation of a bitstream representing a multichannel audio signal, according to an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 3b shows a detailed syntax representation of an SAOC specific configuration information, according to an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 3 c shows a detailed syntax representation of an SAOC frame information, according to an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 3d shows a schematic representation of an encoding of a distortion control mode in a bitstream element "bsDcuMode" which can be used in a SAOC bitstream;
• Fig. 3e shows a table representation of an association between a bitstream index idx and a value of a linear combination parameter "DcuParam[idx]", which can be used for encoding a linear combination information in an SAOC bitstream; shows a block schematic diagram of an apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation, according to another embodiment of the invention; shows a syntax representation of an SAOC specific configuration information, according to an embodiment of the invention; shows a table representation of an association between a bitstream index idx and a linear combination parameter Param[idx] which can be used for encoding the linear combination parameter in an SAOC bitstream; shows a table describing listening test conditions; shows a table describing audio items of the listening tests; shows a table describing tested downmix/rendering conditions for a stereo-to-stereo SAOC decoding scenario; shows a graphic representation of distortion control unit (DCU) listening test results for a stereo-to-stereo SAOC scenario; shows a block schematic diagram of a reference MP
• Fig. la shows a block schematic diagram of an apparatus for providing an upmix signal representation, according to an embodiment of the invention.
• the apparatus 100 is configured to receive a downmix signal representation 1 10 and an object-related parametric information 1 12.
• the apparatus 100 is also configured to receive a linear combination parameter 1 14.
• the downmix signal representation 1 10, the object-related parametric information 1 12 and the linear combination parameter 1 14 are all included in a bitstream representation of an audio content.
• the linear combination parameter 1 14 is described by a bitstream element within said bitstream representation.
• the apparatus 100 is also configured to receive a rendering information 120, which defines a user-specified rendering matrix.
• the apparatus 100 is configured to provide an upmix signal representation 130, for example, individual channel signals or an MPEG surround downmix signal in combination with an MPEG surround side information.
• the apparatus 100 comprises a distortion limiter 140 which is configured to obtain a modified rendering matrix 142 using a linear combination of a user-specified rendering matrix 144 (which is described, directly or indirectly, by the rendering information 120) and a target rendering matrix in dependence on a linear combination parameter 146, which may, for example, be designated with g DCU .
• the apparatus 100 may, for example, be configured to evaluate a bitstream element 114 representing the linear combination parameter 146 in order to obtain the linear combination parameter.
• the apparatus 100 also comprises a signal processor 148 which is configured to obtain the upmix signal representation 130 on the basis of the downmix signal representation 1 10 and the object-related parametric information 1 12 using the modified rendering matrix 142.
• the apparatus 100 is capable of providing the upmix signal representation with good rendering quality using, for example, an SAOC signal processor 148, or any other object-related signal processor 148.
• the modified rendering matrix 142 is adapted by the distortion limiter 140 such that a sufficiently good hearing impression with sufficiently small distortions is, in most or all cases, achieved.
• the modified rendering matrix typically lies "in-between" the user-specified (desired) rendering matrix and the target rendering matrix, wherein a degree of similarity of the modified rendering matrix to the user-specified rendering matrix and to the target rendering matrix is determined by the linear combination parameter, which consequently allows for an adjustment of an achievable rendering quality and/or of a maximum distortion level of the upmix signal representation 130.
• the signal processor 148 may, for example, be an SAOC signal processor. Accordingly, the signal processor 148 may be configured to evaluate the object-related parametric information 1 12 to obtain parameters describing characteristics of the audio objects represented, in a downmixed form, by the downmix signal representation 1 10. In addition, the signal processor 148 may obtain (for example, receive) parameters describing the downmix procedure, which is used at the side of an audio encoder providing the bitstream representation of the audio content in order to derive the downmix signal representation 110 by combining the audio object signals of a plurality of audio objects.
• the signal processor 148 may, for example, evaluate an object- level difference information OLD describing a level difference between a plurality of audio objects for a given audio frame and one or more frequency bands, and an inter- object correlation information IOC describing a correlation between audio signals of a plurality of pairs of audio objects for a given audio frame and for one or more frequency bands.
• the signal processor 148 may also evaluate a downmix information DMG,DCLD describing a downmix, which is performed at the side of an audio encoder providing the bitstream representation of the audio content, for example, in the form of one or more downmix gain parameters DMG and one or more downmix channel level difference parameters DCLD.
• the signal processor 148 receives the modified rendering matrix 142, which indicates which audio channels of the upmix signal representation 130 should comprise an audio content of the different audio objects. Accordingly, the signal processor 148 is configured to determine the contributions of the different audio objects to downmix signal representation 110 using its knowledge (obtained from the OLD information and the IOC information) of the audio objects as well as its knowledge of the downmix process (obtained from the DMG information and the DCLD information). Furthermore, the signal processor provides the upmix signal representation such that the modified rendering matrix 142 is considered.
• the signal processor 148 fulfills the functionality of the SAOC decoder 820, wherein the downmix signal representation 110 takes the place of the one or more downmix signals 812, wherein the object-related parametric information 1 12 takes the place of the side information 814, and wherein the modified rendering matrix 142 takes the place of the user interaction/control information 822.
• the channel signals j , to y M take the role of the upmix signal representation 130. Accordingly, reference is made to the description of the SAOC decoder 820.
• the signal processor 148 may take the role of the decoder/mixer 920, wherein the downmix signal representation 1 10 takes the role of the one or more downmix signals, wherein the object-related parametric information 112 takes the role of the object metadata, wherein the modified rendering matrix 142 takes the role of the rendering information input to the mixer/renderer 926, and wherein the channel signal 928 takes the role of the upmix signal representation 130.
• the signal processor 148 may perform the functionality of the integrated decoder and mixer 950, wherein the downmix signal representation 1 10 may take the role of the one or more downmix signals, wherein the object-related parametric information 112 may take the role of the object metadata, wherein the modified rendering matrix 142 may take the role of the rendering information input to the object decoder plus mixer/renderer 950, and wherein the channel signals 958 may take the role of the upmix signal representation 130.
• the signal processor 148 may perform the functionality of the SAOC-to- MPEG surround transcoder 980, wherein the downmix signal representation 110 may take the role of the one or more downmix signals, wherein the object-related parametric information 112 may take the role of the object metadata, wherein the modified rendering matrix 142 may take the role of the rendering information, and wherein the one or more downmix signals 988 in combination with the MPEG surround bitstream 984 may take the role of the upmix signal representation 130.
• the signal processor 148 for details regarding the functionality of the signal processor 148, reference is made to the description of the SAOC decoder 820, of the separate decoder and mixer 920, of the integrated decoder and mixer 950, and of the SAOC-to-MPEG surround transcoder 980. Reference is also made, for instance, to documents [3] and [4] with respect to the functionality of the signal processor 148, wherein the modified rendering matrix 142, rather than the user-specified rendering matrix 120, takes the role of the input rendering information in the embodiments according to the invention.
• Fig. lb shows a block schematic diagram of an apparatus 150 for providing a bitstream representing a multi-channel audio signal.
• the apparatus 150 is configured to receive a plurality of audio object signals 160a to 160N.
• the apparatus 1 0 is further configured to provide a bitstream 170 representing the multi-channel audio signal, which is described by the audio object signals 160a to 160N.
• the apparatus 150 comprises a downmixer 180 which is configured to provide a downmix signal 182 on the basis of the plurality of audio object signals 160a to 160N.
• the apparatus 150 also comprises a side information provider 184 which is configured to provide an object-related parametric side information 186 describing characteristics of the audio object signals 160a to 160N and downmix parameters used by the downmixer 180.
• the side information provider 184 is also configured to provide a linear combination parameter 188 describing a desired contribution of a (desired) user- specified rendering matrix and of a target (low-distortion) rendering matrix to a modified rendering matrix.
• the object-related parametric side information 186 may, for example, comprise an object-level-difference information (OLD) describing object-level-differences of the audio object signals 160a to 160N (e.g., in a band-wise manner).
• the object-related parametric side information may also comprise an inter-object-correlation information (IOC) describing correlations between the audio object signals 160a to 160N.
• the object-related parametric side information may describe the downmix gain (e.g., in an object- wise manner), wherein the downmix gain values are used by the downmixer 180 in order to obtain the downmix signal 182 combining the audio object signals 160a to 160N.
• the object-related parametric side information 186 may comprise a downmix-channel-level-difference information (DCLD), which describes the differences between the downmix levels for multiple channels of the downmix signal 182 (e.g., if the downmix signal 182 is a multi-channel signal).
• DCLD downmix-channel-level-difference information
• the linear combination parameter 188 may for example be a numeric value between 0 and 1, describing to use only a user-specified downmix matrix (e.g., for a parameter value of 0), only a target rendering matrix (e.g., for a parameter value of 1) or any given combination of the user-specified rendering matrix and the target rendering matrix in- between these extremes (e.g., for parameter values between 0 and 1).
• the apparatus 150 also comprises a bitstream formatter 190 which is configured to provide the bitstream 170 such that the bitstream comprises a representation of the downmix signal 182, the object-related parametric side information 186 and the linear combination parameter 188.
• the apparatus 150 performs the functionality of the SAOC encoder 810 according to Fig. 8 or of the object encoder according to Figs. 9a-9c.
• the audio object signals 160a to 160N are equivalent to the object signals j to x N received, for example, by the SAOC encoder 810.
• the downmix signal 182 may, for example, be equivalent to one or more downmix signals 812.
• the object-related parametric side information 186 may, for example, be equivalent to the side information 814 or to the object metadata.
• the bitstream 170 may also encode the linear combination parameter 188.
• the apparatus 150 which can be considered as an audio encoder, has an impact on a decoder-sided handling of the distortion control scheme, which is performed by the distortion limiter 140, by appropriately setting the linear combination parameter 188, such that the apparatus 150 expects a sufficient rendering quality provided by an audio decoder (e.g. an apparatus 100) receiving the bitstream 170.
• the side information provider 184 may set the linear combination parameter in dependence on a quality requirement information, which is received from an optional user interface 199 of the apparatus 150.
• the side information provider 184 may also take into consideration characteristics of the audio object signals 160a to 160N, and of the downmixing parameters of the downmixer 180.
• the apparatus 150 may estimate a degree of distortion, which is obtained at an audio decoder under the assumption of one or more worst case user-specified rendering matrices, and may adjust the linear combination parameter 188 such that a rendering quality, which is expected to be obtained by the audio signal decoder under the consideration of this linear combination parameter, is still considered as being sufficient by the side information provider 184.
• the apparatus 150 may set the linear combination parameter 188 to a value allowing for a strong user impact (influence of the user-specified rendering matrix) onto the modified rendering matrix, if the side information provider 184 finds that an audio quality of an upmix signal representation would not be degraded severely even in the presence of extreme user-specified rendering settings.
• the side information provider 184 may set the linear combination parameter 188 to a value allowing for a comparatively small impact of the user (or of the user-specified rendering matrix), if the side information provider 184 finds that extreme rendering settings could lead to strong audible distortions. This may, for example, be the case if the audio object signals 160a to 160N are significantly different, such that a clear separation of audio objects at the side of the audio decoder is difficult (or connected with audible distortions).
• the apparatus 150 may use knowledge for the setting of the linear combination parameter 188 which is only available at the side to the apparatus 150, but not at the side of an audio decoder (e.g., the apparatus 100), such as, for example, a desired rendering quality information input to the apparatus 150 via a user interface or detailed knowledge about the separate audio objects represented by the audio object signals 160a and 160N.
• an audio decoder e.g., the apparatus 100
• the side information provider 184 can provide the linear combination parameter 188 in a very meaningful manner.
• a processing performed by a distortion control unit will be described taking reference to Fig. 2, which shows a block schematic diagram of a SAOC system 200. Specifically, Fig. 2 illustrates the distortion control unit DCU within the overall SAOC system.
• the SAOC decoder 200 is configured to receive a downmix signal representation 210 representing, for example, a 1 -channel downmix signal or a 2- channel downmix signal, or even a downmix signal having more than two channels.
• the SAOC decoder 200 is configured to receive an SAOC bitstream 212, which comprises an object-related parametric side information, such as, for instance, an object level difference information OLD, an inter-object correlation information IOC, a downmix gain information DMG, and, optionally, a downmix channel level difference information DCLD.
• the SAOC decoder 200 is also configured to obtain a linear combination parameter 214, which is also designated with g DCU .
• the downmix signal representation 210, the SAOC bitstream 212 and the linear combination parameter 214 are included in a bitstream representation of an audio content.
• the SAOC decoder 200 is also configured to receive, for example, from a user interface, a rendering matrix input 220.
• a rendering matrix input 220 may be received from a user interface.
• the SAOC decoder 200 may receive a rendering matrix input 220 in the form of a matrix M reM , which defines the
• the rendering matrix M re ago may, for example, be input from a user interface, wherein the user interface may translate a different user-specified form of representation of a desired rendering setup into parameters of the rendering matrix M ren .
• the user-interface may translate an input in the form of level slider values and an audio object position information into a user-specified rendering matrix M ren using some mapping.
• the SAOC decoder 200 also comprises a distortion control unit DCU 240 which is configured to receive the user-specified rendering matrix M ren , at least a part of the
• the distortion control unit 240 provides the modified rendering matrix M ren lim .
• the audio decoder 200 also comprises an SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248, which may be considered as a signal processor, and which receives the downmix signal representation 210, the SAOC bitstream 212 and the modified rendering matrix M ren ljm .
• the SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248 provides a representation 230 of one or more output channels, which may be considered as an upmix signal representation.
• the representation 230 of the one or more output channels may, for example, take the form of a frequency domain representation of individual audio signal channels, of a time domain representation of individual audio channels or of a parametric multi-channel representation.
• the upmix signal representation 230 make take the form of an MPEG surround representation comprising an MPEG surround downmix signal and an MPEG surround side information.
• the SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248 may comprise the same functionality as a signal processor 148, and may be equivalent to the SAOC decoder 820, to the separate coder and mixer 920, to the integrated decoder and mixer 950 and to the SAOC-to-MPEG surround transcoder 980.
• the distortion control unit is incorporated into the SAOC decoder/transcoder processing chain between the rendering interface (e.g., a user interface at which the user-specified rendering matrix, or an information from which the user-specified rendering matrix can be derived, is input) and the actual SAOC decoding/transcoding unit.
• the rendering interface e.g., a user interface at which the user-specified rendering matrix, or an information from which the user-specified rendering matrix can be derived, is input
• the actual SAOC decoding/transcoding unit e.g., a user interface at which the user-specified rendering matrix, or an information from which the user-specified rendering matrix can be derived
• the distortion control unit 240 provides a modified rendering matrix M ren lim using the information from the rendering interface (e.g. the user-specified rendering matrix input, directly or indirectly, via the rendering interface or user interface) and SAOC data (e.g., data from the SAOC bitstream 212).
• the modified rendering matrix M ren Km can be accessed by the application (e.g., the SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248), reflecting the actually effective rendering settings.
• the DCU prevents extreme rendering settings by producing a modified matrix ⁇ ' " 1 ⁇ comprising limited rendering coefficients, which shall be used by the SAOC rendering engine.
• the final (DCU processed) rendering coefficients shall be calculated according to:
• M iTil re' m n,lim - &p DCU ) / M l re- m n + o ⁇ ?DC/7 M / re ,m n.tar '
• the parameter g DCU e [0, 1] which is also designated as a linear combination parameter, is used to define the degree of transition from the user specified rendering matrix M' re TM towards the distortion-free targ cet matrix M' re' TM n,iar .
• the parameter g DCU is derived from the bitstream element "bsDcuParam" according to:
• S DCU DcuParam[bsDcuParam]. Accordingly, a linear combination between the user-specified rendering matrix M ren and the distortion-free target rendering matrix M ren lar is formed in dependence on the linear combination parameter g DCU .
• the linear combination parameter g DCU is derived from a bitstream element, such that there is no difficult computation of said linear combination parameter g DCU required (at least at the decoder side). Also, deriving the linear combination parameter g DCU f om the bitstream, including the downmix signal representation 210, the SAOC bitstream 212 and the bitstream element representing the linear combination parameter, gives an audio signal encoder a chance to partially control the distortion control mechanism, which is performed at the side of the SAOC decoder.
• the "downmix-similar" rendering method can typically be used in cases where the downmix is an important reference of artistic high quality.
• the "downmix-similar" rendering matrix M' ren DS is computed as
• N D ' S represents an energy normalization scalar (for each parameter slot / )
• O' DS is the downmix matrix D ' extended by rows of zero elements such that number and order of the rows of correspond to the constellation of M r 7 / r ,.m
• D' DS is of size N MPS x N (where N depicts the number of input audio objects) and its rows representing the front left and right output channels equal D' (or corresponding rows of D' ).
• the (modified) rendering matrix M ren ,iim with elements m j maps all input objects i (i.e., input objects having object index i) to the desired output channels j (i.e., output channels having channel index j) .
• the (modified) rendering matrix M ren ,ii m is given by
• the downmix parameters DMG and DCLD are obtained from the SAOC bitstream 212.
• the "best effort" rendering matrix describes a target rendering matrix, which depends on the downmix and rendering information.
• the energy normalization is represented by a matrix ⁇ " of size N ups x M , hence it provides individual values for each output channel. This requires different calculations of ' ⁇ for the different SAOC operation modes, which are outlined in the following.
• the "best effort" rendering matrix is computed as
• N' M which may be an energy normalization scalar in the case of an SAOC mono-to-mono decoding mode, and which may be an energy normalization matrix in the case of other decoding modes or transcoding modes, will be discussed in detail.
• the energy normalization matrix N ⁇ TM of size 2 x 1 is computed using the following equation
• the elements af comprise (or are taken from) the target binaural rendering
• the energy normalization matrix N'jTM of size 1 x 2 is computed using the following equation
• the energy normalization matrix N g TM of size 2 x 2 is computed using the following equation l,m
• a ' m is a binaural rendering matrix of size 2 x N .
• Eigenvalues are sorted in descending ( ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 2 ) order and the eigenvector corresponding to the larger eigenvalue is calculated according to the equation above. It is assured to lie in the positive x-plane (first element has to be positive). The second eigenvector is obtained from the first by a - 90 degrees rotation:
• DCU Distortion Control Unit
• EAO enhanced audio objects
• This second parameter set can make use of this second parameter set if it decodes residual coding data and operates in strict EAO mode which is defined by the condition that only EAOs can be modified arbitrarily while all non-EAOs only undergo a single common modification.
• this strict EAO mode requires fulfillment of two following conditions: The downmix matrix and rendering matrix have the same dimensions (implying that the number of rendering channels is equal to the number of downmix channels).
• the application only employs rendering coefficients for each of the regular objects (i.e. non-EAOs) that are related to their corresponding downmix coefficients by a single common scaling factor.
• the bitstream 300 comprises a downmix signal representation 302, which is a representation (e.g., an encoded representation) of a downmix signal combining audio signals of a plurality of audio objects.
• the bitstream 300 also comprises an object-related parametric side information 304 describing characteristics of the audio object and, typically, also characteristics of a downmix performed in an audio encoder.
• the object-related parametric information 304 preferably comprises an object level difference information OLD, an inter-object correlation information IOC, a downmix gain information DMG and a downmix channel level different information DCLD.
• the bitstream 300 also comprises a linear combination parameter 306 describing desired contributions of a user-specified rendering matrix and of a target rendering matrix to a modified rendering matrix (to be applied by an audio signal decoder).
• this bitstream 300 which may be provided by the apparatus 150 as the bitstream 170, and which may be input into the apparatus 100 to obtain the downmix signal representation 110, the object-related parametric information 1 12 and the linear combination parameter 140, or into the apparatus 200 to obtain the downmix information 210, the SAOC bitstream information 212 and the linear combination parameter 214, will be described in the following taking reference to Figs. 3b and 3c. 5. Bitstream Syntax Details
• Fig. 3b shows a detailed syntax representation of an SAOC specific configuration information.
• the SAOC specific configuration 310 according to Fig. 3 b may, for example, be part of a header of the bitstream 300 according to Fig. 3 a.
• the SAOC specific configuration may, for example, comprise a sampling frequency configuration describing a sampling frequency to be applied by an SAOC decoder.
• the SAOC specific configuration also comprises a low-delay-mode configuration describing whether a low-delay mode or a high-delay mode of the signal processor 148 or of the SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248 should be used.
• the SAOC specific configuration also comprises a frequency resolution configuration describing a frequency resolution to be used by the signal processor 148 or by the SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248.
• the SAOC specific configuration may comprise a frame length configuration describing a length of audio frames to be used by the signal processor 148, or by the SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248.
• the SAOC specific configuration typically comprises an object number configuration describing a number of audio objects to be processed by the signal processor 148, or by the SAOC decoding/transcoding unit 248.
• the object number configuration also describes a number of object-related parameters included in the object-related parametric information 1 12, or in the SAOC bitstream 212.
• the SAOC specific configuration may comprise an object-relationship configuration, which designates objects having a common object-related parametric information.
• the SAOC specific configuration may also comprise an absolute energy transmission configuration, which indicates whether an absolute energy information is transmitted from an audio encoder to an audio decoder.
• the SAOC specific configuration may also comprise a downmix channel number configuration, which indicates whether there is only one downmix channel, whether there are two downmix channels, or whether there are, optionally, more than two downmix channels.
• the SAOC specific configuration may comprise additional configuration information in some embodiments.
• the SAOC specific configuration may also comprise post-processing downmix gain configuration information "bsPdgFlag" which defines whether a post processing downmix gain for an optional post-processing are transmitted.
• the SAOC specific configuration also comprises a flag "bsDcuFlag” (which may, for example, be a 1-bit flag), which defines whether the values "bsDcuMode” and "bsDcuParam” are transmitted in the bitstream. If this flag “bsDcuFlag” takes the value of "1”, another flag which is marked “bsDcuMandatory” and a flag “bsDcuDynamic” are included in the SAOC specific configuration 310.
• the flag "bsDcuMandatory” describes whether the distortion control must be applied by an audio decoder.
• the distortion control unit must be applied using the parameters "bsDcuMode” and "bsDcuParam” as transmitted in the bitstream. If the flag "bsDcuMandatory” is equal to "0”, then the distortion control unit parameters "bsDcuMode” and "bsDcuParam” transmitted in the bitstream are only recommended values and also other distortion control unit settings could be used.
• an audio encoder may activate the flag "bsDcuMandatory"in order to enforce the usage of the distortion control mechanism in a standard-compliant audio decoder, and may deactivate said flag in order to leave the decision whether to apply the distortion control unit, and if so, which parameters to use for the distortion control unit, to the audio decoder.
• an audio signal encoder can switch between a one-time signaling (per piece of audio comprising a single SAOC specific configuration and, typically, a plurality of SAOC frames) and a dynamic transmission of said parameters within some or all of the SAOC frames.
• the parameter "bsDcuMode” defines the distortion-free target matrix type for the distortion control unit (DCU) according to the table of Fig. 3d.
• the parameter "bsDcuParam” defines the parameter value for the distortion control unit (DCU) algorithm according to the table of Fig. 3e.
• DCU distortion control unit
• “bsDcuParam” defines an index value idx, which can be mapped by an audio signal decoder onto a linear combination value g DCU (also designated with “DcuParam[ind]” or “DcuParam[idx]”).
• the parameter “bsDcuParam” represents, in a quantized manner, the linear combination parameter.
• the parameters "bsDcuMandatory”, “bsDcuDynamic”, “bsDcuMode” and “bsDcuParam” are set to a default value of "0", if the flag "bsDcuFlag” takes the value of "0", which indicates that no distortion control unit parameters are transmitted.
• the SAOC specific configuration also comprises, optionally, one or more byte alignment bits "ByteAlign()" to bring the SAOC specific configuration to a desired length.
• SAOC specific configuration may optionally comprise a SAOC extension configuration "SAOCExtensionConfigO", which comprises additional configuration parameters.
• SAOCExtensionConfigO SAOC extension configuration
• said configuration parameters are not relevant for the present invention, such that a discussion is omitted here for the sake of brevity.
• the SAOC frame "SAOCFrame” typically comprises encoded object level difference values OLD as discussed before, which may be included in the SAOC frame data for a plurality of frequency bands ("band-wise") and for a plurality of audio objects (per audio object).
• the SAOC frame also, optionally, comprises encoded absolute energy values NRG which may be included for a plurality of frequency bands (band- wise).
• the SAOC frame may also comprise encoded inter-object correlation values IOC, which are included in the SAOC frame data for a plurality of combinations of audio objects.
• the IOC values are typically included in a band-wise manner.
• the SAOC frame also comprises encoded downmix-gain values DMG, wherein there is typically one downmix gain value per audio object per SAOC frame.
• the SAOC frame also comprises, optionally, encoded downmix channel level differences DCLD, wherein there is typically one downmix channel level difference value per audio object and per SAOC frame.
• the SAOC frame typically comprises, optionally, encoded post-processing downmix gain values PDG.
• an SAOC frame may also comprise, under some circumstances, one or more distortion control parameters. If the flag "bsDcuFlag", which is included in the SAOC specific configuration section, is equal to "1", indicating usage of distortion control unit information in the bitstream, and if the flag "bsDcuDynamic" in the SAOC specific configuration also takes the value of "1 ", indicating the usage of a dynamic (frame-wise) distortion control unit information, the distortion control information is included in the SAOC frame, provided that the SAOC frame is a so-called “independent” SAOC frame, for which the flag "bsIndependencyFlag" is active or that the flag "bsDcuDynamicUpdate" is active.
• the parameters "bsDcuMode” and “bsDcuParam”, which have been explained above, are included in the SAOC frame if the transmission of distortion control unit parameters is activated and a dynamic transmission of the distortion control unit data is also activated and the flag "bsDcuDynamicUpdate" is activated.
• the parameters "bsDcuMode” and “bsDcuParam” are also included in the SAOC frame if the SAOC frame is an "independent" SAOC frame, the transmission of distortion control unit data is activated and the dynamic transmission of distortion control unit data is also activated.
• the SAOC frame also comprises, optionally, fill data "byteAlign()" to fill up the SAOC frame to a desired length.
• the SAOC frame may comprise additional information, which is designated as "SAOCExt or ExtensionFrame()".
• SAOCExt or ExtensionFrame() additional information
• the flag "bsIndependencyFlag” indicates if lossless coding of the current SAOC frame is done independently of the previous SAOC frame, i.e. whether the current SAOC frame can be decoded without knowledge of the previous SAOC frame.
• Fig. 4 shows a block schematic diagram of an audio decoder 400, according to an embodiment of the invention.
• the audio decoder 400 is configured to receive a downmix signal 410, an SAOC bitstream 412, a linear combination parameter 414 (also designated with ⁇ ), and a rendering matrix information 420 (also designated with R).
• the audio decoder 400 is configured to receive an upmix signal representation, for example, in the form of a plurality of output channels 130a to 130M.
• the audio decoder 400 comprises a distortion control unit 440 (also designated with DCU) which receives at least a part of the SAOC bitstream information of the SAOC bitstream 412, the linear combination parameter 414 and the rendering matrix information 420.
• the distortion control unit provides a modified rendering information Ru m which may be a modified rendering matrix information.
• the audio decoder 400 also comprises an SAOC decoder and/or SAOC transcoder 448, which receives the downmix signal 410, the SAOC bitstream 412 and the modified rendering information Ru m and provides, on the basis thereof, the output channels 130a to 130M.
• SAOC decoder and/or SAOC transcoder 448 which receives the downmix signal 410, the SAOC bitstream 412 and the modified rendering information Ru m and provides, on the basis thereof, the output channels 130a to 130M.
• the general SAOC processing is carried out in a time/frequency selective way and can be described as follows.
• the SAOC encoder (for example, the SAOC encoder 150) extracts the psychoacoustic characteristics (e.g. object power relations and correlations) of several input audio object signals and then downmixes them into a combined mono or stereo channel (for example, the downmix signal 182 or the downmix signal 410).
• This downmix signal and extracted side information (for example, the object-related parametric side information or the SAOC bitstream information 412 are transmitted (or stored) in compressed format using the well-known perceptual audio coders.
• the SAOC decoder 418 conceptually tries to restore the original object signals (i.e. separate downmixed objects) using the transmitted side information 412. These approximated object signals are then mixed into a target scene using a rendering matrix.
• the rendering matrix for example R or R[j m is composed of the Rendering Coefficients (RCs) specified for each transmitted audio object and upmix setup loudspeaker. These RCs determine gains and spatial positions of all separated/rendered objects.
• the SAOC decoder transforms (on a parametric level) the object gains and other side information directly into the Transcoding Coefficients (TCs) which are applied to the downmix signal 182, 414 to create the corresponding signals 130a to 130M for the rendered output audio scene (or preprocessed downmix signal for a further decoding operation, i.e. typically multichannel MPEG Surround rendering).
• TCs Transcoding Coefficients
• the subjectively perceived audio quality of the rendered output scene can be improved by application of a distortion control unit DCU (e.g. a rendering matrix modifying unit), as described in [6].
• DCU e.g. a rendering matrix modifying unit
• This improvement can be achieved for the price of accepting a moderate dynamic modification of the target rendering settings.
• the modification of the rendering information can be done time and frequency variant, which under specific circumstances may result in unnatural sound colorations and/or temporal fluctuation artifacts.
• the DCU can be incorporated into the SAOC decoder/transcoder processing chain in the straightforward way. Namely, it is placed at the front-end of the SAOC by controlling the RCs R , see Fig. 4.
• the DCU Based on the user specified rendering scenario represented by the coefficients (the RCs) of a matrix R of size ⁇ ch x ⁇ nb (i.e. the rows correspond to the output channels 130a to 130M, the columns to the input audio objects), the DCU prevents extreme rendering settings by producing a modified matrix '"" comprising limited rendering coefficients, which are actually used by the SAOC rendering engine 448.
• the RCs are assumed to be frequency invariant to simplify the notation.
• the limited rendering coefficients can be derived as
• the cross-fading parameter ⁇ e [0, 1] also designated as a linear combination parameter
• a blending of the (user specified) rendering matrix R towards a target matrix R can be realized.
• the limited matrix R ljm represents a linear combination of the rendering matrix R and a target matrix.
• the target rendering matrix could be the downmix matrix (i.e. the downmix channels are passed through the transcoder 448) with a normalization factor or another static matrix that results in a static transcoding matrix.
• This "downmix-similar rendering" ensures that the target rendering matrix does not introduce any SAOC processing artifacts and consequently represents an optimal rendering point in terms of audio quality albeit being totally regardless of the initial rendering coefficients.
• the downmix-similar rendering fails to serve as target point.
• a point can be interpreted as "best-effort rendering" when taking into account both the downmix and the initial rendering coefficients (for example, the user specified rendering matrix).
• the aim of this second definition of the target rendering matrix is to preserve the specified rendering scenario (for example, defined by the user-specified rendering matrix) in a best possible way, but at the same time keeping the audible degradation due to excessive object manipulation on a minimum level.
• the "downmix-similar rendering" matrix R DS is computed as
• N DS the energy normalization scalar
• D R is the downmix matrix extended by rows of zero elements such that number and order of the rows of D R correspond to the constellation of R .
• D R is of size N ch x N ob and its rows representing the front left and right output channels equal D .
• the (*) implies the complex conjugate transpose operator.
• the best effort rendering method describes a target rendering matrix, which depends on the downmix and rendering information.
• the energy normalization is represented by a matrix N BE of size N ch x N dmx , hence it provides individual values for each output channel (provided that there is more than one output channel). This requires different calculations of N BE for the different SAOC operation modes, which are outlined in the subsequent sections.
• the "best effort rendering" matrix is computed as
• N BE (DD' where the mono rendering matrix ?, of size 1 x N ob is defined as
• N BE R 2 D' (DD t ) where the stereo rendering matrix R 2 of size 2 x N ob is defined as 6.5.7 SAOC mono-to-binaural ("x-2-b") decoding mode
• N BE R 2 D' (DD' ) where the binaural rendering matrix R 2 of size 2 x N ob is defined as
• SAOCSpecificConfigO comprises conventional SAOC configuration information.
• the SAOC specific configuration comprises a DCU specific addition 510, which will be described in more detail in the following.
• the SAOC specific configuration also comprises one or more fill bits "ByteAlign()", which may be used to adjust the length of the SAOC specific configuration.
• the SAOC specific configuration may optionally comprise and SAOC extension configuration, which comprises further configuration parameters.
• the DCU specific addition 510 according to Fig. 5a to the bitstream syntax element "SAOCSpecificConfigO" is an example of bitstream signaling for the proposed DCU scheme. This relates to the syntax described in sub-clause "5.1 payloads for SAOC” of the draft SAOC Standard according to reference [8].
• the possible "bsDcuParam" values are in this example part of a table with 16 entries represented by 4 bits. Of course any table, bigger or smaller, could be used.
• the spacing between the values can be logarithmic in order to correspond to maximum object separation in decibels. But the values could also be linearly spaced, or a hybrid combination of logarithmic and linear, or any other kind of scale.
• the "bsDcuMode” parameter in the bitstream makes it possible for at the encoder side choosing an, for the situation, optimal DCU algorithm. This can be very useful since some applications or content might benefit from the "downmix-similar" rendering mode while other might benefit from the "best-effort” rendering mode.
• the "downmix-similar" rendering mode can be the desired method for applications where backward/forward compatibility is important and the downmix has important artistic qualities that needs to be preserved.
• the "best- effort" rendering mode can have better performance in cases where this is not the case.
• DCU parameters related to the present invention could of course be conveyed in any other parts of the SAOC bitstream.
• An alternative location would be using the "SAOCExtensionConfigO" container where a certain extension ID could be used. Both these sections are located in the SAOC header, assuring minimum data-rate overhead.
• Another alternative is to convey the DCU data in the payload data (i.e. in SAOCFrameO). This would allow for time-variant signaling (for example, signal adaptive control).
• a flexible approach is to define bitstream signaling of the DCU data for both header (i.e. static signaling) and in the payload data (i.e. dynamic signaling). Then an SAOC encoder is free to choose one of the two signaling methods.
• the DCU default value can be "0"
• a subjective listening test has been conducted to assess the perceptual performance of the proposed DCM concept and compare it to the results of the regular SAOC RM decoding/transcoding processing. Compared to other listening tests, the task of this test is to consider best possible reproduction quality in extreme rendering situations ("soloing objects", "muting objects") regarding two quality aspects: 1. achieving the objective of the rendering (good attenuation/boosting of the target objects)
• an unmodified SAOC processing may fulfill aspect #1 but not aspect #2
• simply using the transmitted downmix signal may fulfill aspect #2 but not aspect #1.
• the listening test was conducted presenting only true choices to the listener, i.e. only material that is truly available as a signal at the decoder side.
• the presented signals are the output signal of the regular (unprocessed by the DCU) SAOC decoder, demonstrating the baseline performance of the SAOC and the SAOC/DCU output.
• trivial rendering which corresponds to the downmix signal, is presented in the listening test.
• the table of Fig. 6a describes the listening test conditions. Since the proposed DCU operates using the regular SAOC data and downmixes and does not rely on residual information, no core coder has been applied to the corresponding SAOC downmix signals.
• the table of Fig. 6b describes the audio items of the listening tests.
• the subjective listening tests were conducted in an acoustically isolated listening room that is designed to permit high-quality listening.
• the playback was done using headphones (STAX SR Lambda Pro with Lake-People D/A-Converter and ST AX SRM-Monitor).
• the test method followed the procedure used in the spatial audio verification tests, similar to the "Multiple Stimulus with Hidden Reference and Anchors” (MUSHRA) method for the subjective assessment of intermediate quality audio [2].
• the test method has been modified as described above in order to assess the perceptual performance of the proposed DCU.
• the listeners were instructed to adhere to the following listening test instructions: "Application scenario: Imagine you are the user of an interactive music remix system which allows you to make dedicated remixes of music material. The system provides mixing desk style sliders for each instrument to change its level, spatial position, etc. Due to the nature of the system, some extreme sound mixes can lead to distortion which degrades the overall sound quality. On the other hand, sound mixes with similar instrument levels tend to produce better sound quality.
• the plots shown in the graphical representation of Fig. 7 show the average score per item over all listeners and the statistical mean value over all evaluated items together with the associated 95% confidence intervals.
• Embodiments according to the invention may be used in combination with parametric techniques for bitrate-efficient transmission/storage of audio scenes containing multiple audio objects, which have recently been proposed (e.g., see references [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5]).
• SAOC Spatial Audio Object Coding
• desired playback setup e.g. mono, stereo, 5.1, etc.
• interactive real-time modification of the desired output rendering scene by controlling the rendering matrix according to personal preference or other criteria.
• the invention is also applicable for parametric techniques in general. Due to the downmix/separation/mix-based parametric approach, the subjective quality of the rendered audio output depends on the rendering parameter settings. The freedom of selecting rendering settings of the user's choice entails the risk of the user selecting inappropriate object rendering options, such as extreme gain manipulations of an object within the overall sound scene.
• the proposed Distortion Control Unit (DCU) algorithm aims at limiting input parameters of the SAOC decoder, namely, the rendering coefficients.
• DCU Distortion Control Unit
• aspects have been described in the context of an apparatus, it is clear that these aspects also represent a description of the corresponding method, where a block or device corresponds to a method step or a feature of a method step. Analogously, aspects described in the context of a method step also represent a description of a corresponding block or item or feature of a corresponding apparatus.
• Some or all of the method steps may be executed by (or using) a hardware apparatus, like for example, a microprocessor, a programmable computer or an electronic circuit. In some embodiments, some one or more of the most important method steps may be executed by such an apparatus.
• the inventive encoded audio signal can be stored on a digital storage medium or can be transmitted on a transmission medium such as a wireless transmission medium or a wired transmission medium such as the Internet.
• embodiments of the invention can be implemented in hardware or in software.
• the implementation can be performed using a digital storage medium, for example a floppy disk, a DVD, a Blue-Ray, a CD, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, an EEPROM or a FLASH memory, having electronically readable control signals stored thereon, which cooperate (or are capable of cooperating) with a programmable computer system such that the respective method is performed. Therefore, the digital storage medium may be computer readable.
• Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a data carrier having electronically readable control signals, which are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system, such that one of the methods described herein is performed.
• embodiments of the present invention can be implemented as a computer program product with a program code, the program code being operative for performing one of the methods when the computer program product runs on a computer.
• the program code may for example be stored on a machine readable carrier.
• inventions comprise the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein, stored on a machine readable carrier.
• an embodiment of the inventive method is, therefore, a computer program having a program code for performing one of the methods described herein, when the computer program runs on a computer.
• a further embodiment of the inventive methods is, therefore, a data carrier (or a digital storage medium, or a computer-readable medium) comprising, recorded thereon, the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein.
• the data carrier, the digital storage medium or the recorded medium are typically tangible and/or non- transitionary.
• a further embodiment of the inventive method is, therefore, a data stream or a sequence of signals representing the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein.
• the data stream or the sequence of signals may for example be configured to be transferred via a data communication connection, for example via the Internet.
• a further embodiment comprises a processing means, for example a computer, or a programmable logic device, configured to or adapted to perform one of the methods described herein.
• a processing means for example a computer, or a programmable logic device, configured to or adapted to perform one of the methods described herein.
• a further embodiment comprises a computer having installed thereon the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein.
• a programmable logic device for example a field programmable gate array
• a field programmable gate array may cooperate with a microprocessor in order to perform one of the methods described herein.
• the methods are preferably performed by any hardware apparatus.
• SAOC spatial Audio Object Coding

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